Mitch Mitchell vs John Bonham

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i adore mitch mitchell but honestly bonham definitely ain't gonna lose this if he didn't lose Keith Moon vs. John Bonham POLL

Agreed. Unfair fight

Damon Che vs. John Bonham

mitch mitchell vs. mitch mitchell

http://dropd.com/issue/6/GuidedByVoices/mitch-big.jpg

To me this is not the runaway obvious choice that it may be for everyone else. It's Bonham, but not by much.

MM was probably my favorite drummer when i started playing drums, just an amazing talent

Mitch Mitchell had a great jazzy explosive style, but Bonham had such a great sense of swing and feel - he made even the weird Zep riffs with beats missing from the ends of bars and so on sound completely natural.

This thread made me put on Electric Ladyland after the ballgame ended -- if only the jam session with Mitchell, Winwood and Casaday had produced more usable material.

Well they got one huge mother of a track with the long slow Voodoo Chile. "Turn that shit down"

I think that crazy beat line that Mitch Mitchell lays out in the studio "Fire" is pretty killer. It's not "When the Levee Breaks" but the "Fire" beat and feel has definitely been copped by other drummers.

I really want to vote Mitchell since I feel like he did more to expand/explode the drummer's traditional role. But Mitchell's tendency to drag or slow down on late-ish Hendrix live recordings drives me up a fucking wall. Then again, taking their best moments, if it's "Levee" vs. "Manic Depression," I can't not vote for Mitchell.

MM is on fire on 'Spanish Castle Magic,' listen to those fills near the end

But Mitchell's tendency to drag or slow down on late-ish Hendrix live recordings drives me up a fucking wall.

I'm not a professional musician but maybe it's difficult to pace a song when you're playing it live and your front man can solo for as long as he likes.

That's definitely a possibility. But there are things like "Straight Ahead" from Atlanta 1970 which isn't solo-heavy, which he just drags down. This happens on the Isle of Wight show, too. But on earlier things like the (solo-heavy) "Killing Floor" from '67 (actually, pretty much everything from '67-'68), he's right on top of it, almost co-leading it with Jimi. In terms of why, the only reasons I've been able to come up with are that Mitchell was still adjusting to a double-bass setup, and/or he couldn't hear Jimi properly.

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scree3ch vs. horseshack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ZkdGJj2s8

I think MM was better in terms of dynamics and is a bit more propulsive on record than JB.

MM is a beautiful drummer...love him...but maybe something about the forcefulness of Bonham puts him over the edge? I'm torn. I'd hate to go against Mitch.

I can think of a dozen drummers (from various eras) who could sit in for Mitchell on Experience material, but it's hard to imagine anyone filling in for Bonham on a gig if he had the flu or something. That was mostly my thinking when I voted Bonham, but Mitchell's style of playing is what I enjoy listening to more often.

yeah that's the thing. Bonham both holds it down & writes his name on it

Yeah...I would have to agree with that.

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